Morning Roundup 7/2/14

So, it turns out goalie Tim Howard is a Christian, not just a miracle worker.

Having spent the first 10 years of my life with an undiagnosed case of Tourette's syndrome -- a neurological disorder characterized by physical and verbal tics -- I did not experience a lot of peace.

But even though my life often seemed chaotic, I knew I could always count on at least one person to provide calm and stability: my grandmother.

Nana's sense of peace was so powerful because it came from her faith in the Lord.

Through her, God revealed His love for me as well. It wasn't long before I was following in her footsteps. I wanted the same kind of faith and peace she had, and that is exactly what God gave me. (Read Tim's article in Worldwide Challenge.)

That said; living with Tourette's is not easy. But God has blessed me with the gift of athleticism as well.

He has done some powerful things in my life through the combination of these 2 gifts. He also has shown me ways to use my position as a professional athlete to encourage others with Tourette's syndrome.

I've started reading Marc Cortez's blog after our talk of a few weeks ago—just added it to Feedly, and you should, too.

The 6 Dangers of Independent Learning

1. You lack stimulus.

Of course, there's plenty of stimulus in the books and other materials the independent learner might engage. But there's nothing like the kind of stimulus that comes from a learning community. Something happens when people get together to wrestle with difficult questions that is almost impossible to replicate on your own.

2. You lack support.

If suffering loves company, so does learning. And for many of the same reasons. Quality learning is hard, demanding, and exhausting. If you're going to stick with it for the long haul, most of us need companions.

3. You become self-dependent.

Most independent learners think of this as a good thing. And there's a sense in which it is. A lifelong learner needs to be internally motivated, able to push herself ever forward. But Newman rightly warns that this can also become "a self-reliance and a self-esteem, which are not only moral evils, but serious hindrances to the attainment of truth." To the extent that independent learning leads to egocentric learning, it becomes a tragic failure.

4. You miss important material.

One of the biggest problems with independent learning is that you don't yet know what you don't know. You may be learning great stuff from a book, but you don't know what the book isn't telling you. And as much as I love books, they don't respond well to questions. Without guidance, you can easily end up with a knowledge that is characterized by "breaks, deficiencies, and irregularities." That's true for all of us, of course, but the independent learner runs greater risks than most.

While many religious leaders have been vocal about abortion, same sex marriage and other social concerns, they have remained fairly quiet on one major issue: domestic violence.

According to a survey from LifeWay Research which interviewed 1,000 senior pastors of Protestant churches in the U.S., pastors rarely include the topics of domestic and sexual violence in their sermons.

Co-sponsored by the Christian nonprofits Sojourners and IMA World Health, the survey also found that pastors were more likely to believe domestic violence was an issue in their community (72%) than an issue in their church (25%).

"I think many pastors still don't think it exists in their congregation," Yvonne DeVaughn, director of Advocacy for Victims of Abuse (AVA), told LifeWay.

This discrepancy may not be entirely the pastors' faults, however, as 52% of senior pastors say they don't have sufficient training to address domestic or sexual violence in their communities. 81% said they would work to reduce domestic violence if they had more training.

More than 1 in 3 women and more than 1 in 4 men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is a high likelihood of being or knowing someone to whom this has happened, and according to LifeWay, 74% of pastors know of a friend, family member or church member who has experienced domestic violence.

In this episode of The Exchange, I host Dr. Thom Rainer, President and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources in studio to discuss discipleship, family, fatherhood, blogging, biblical church membership and his latest book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church.